Things of course moved quickly, as it should. After keeping mum, while another rival congratulated TM, Maxisactually delivered something tangible – new industry-leading plans.

Maxis’ new consumer fibre plans became the most affordable in the industry. Its 30Mbps plan, offered at MYR89 per month is “open to everyone” while its MYR129 per month 100Mbps plan undercut TM unifi’s advance plan which is priced at MYR139 per month. Maxis also offers unlimited quota, something unifi Basic previously did not.

Tit-for-tat and that’s OK

So, back to unifi. After making its entry-level unifi basic plan open to everyone, thereby wrestling the “most affordable 30Mbps fibre broadband” title from Maxis, TM has made another shocking announcement. Perhaps not as shocking as those paying MYR329 per month for 100Mbps currently.

Anyway, effective 6 September, the unifi 100Mbps plan is now MYR129 per month. This matches Maxis’ offering and will come with unlimited quota as well as a free call plan (STD20). It also comes with 600 minutes of talk time (to mobile and fixed line) and you’ll get a bundled DECT phone.

Like the unifi basic plan, there’s no unifi TV set to box but you can easily access content via the unifi PlayTV app. Speaking of content, you get to pick a bundled unifi TV pack: Varnam+, Aneka+ or Ruby+.

If the mobile screen is too limiting, you can opt for the unifi TV set top box as a MYR30 per month add-on.

A couple of things to note

Based on the official unifi page, TM has scrapped the 10Mbps unifi plan, leaving only the new 30Mbps unifi basic plan and 100Mbps unifi pro plan. It’s a streamlined package line up and you may be wondering, “where’s 300Mbps, 500Mbps, 800Mbps?” We’ll get to that.

The new 30Mbps and 100Mbps unifi plans are open to new subscribers only. This is naturally bound by a 24-month contract. Also, speeds are subject to the availability of ports in your area. You can check if unifi is available in your area at your nearest TMpoint.

What about existing customers?

I’m currently subscribed to unifi’s 50Mbps plan (upgraded from 30Mbps) and I’ve officially been turbocharged to 500Mbps recently. In all honesty, I’d like a cheaper plan (do we really need 500Mbps?). The question is, should existing users switch to the cheaper 100Mbps especially those who are paying MYR329 for the same speeds currently?

So, here’s the Catch-22. To subscribe to the new plan, you’ll need to be “off-contract” from your current plan. You’ll have to cancel the existing plan and then subscribe to the new plan with a 24-month contract.

With the new subscription, you’ll be losing out on one key thing: the turbo speed upgrade that was announced for existing users. You stand to get free Turbo upgrades of up to 10X speeds. This is being rolled out in stages up till 2019 and will depend on availability in your area.

The question is: do you want a cheaper 100Mbps plan or a potential 10X speed upgrade?